Cairo has for centuries been the home of Oriental magnificence and despotism, and still, though fallen from its high estate, it ranks as one of the most typical and picturesque-as well as the wickedest - of Mohammedan cities, while its mingling of Oriental luxury and laissez faire with Occidental bustle and commercial activity, give it a curiously cosmopolitan character. Its manifold aspects of commerce, history, art, and social life are described from intimate acquaintance by Mr. Reynolds-Ball, who tells not only of the city itself, but of its environs and approaches, and who describes the wonderful vista of the Nile from Cairo to the second cataract.